ADONIRAM HI > SON.

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L

EARLY YEARS AND CONVERSION.

At Malden, Massachusetts, one of the
picturesque suburbs of Boston, there
stands an old wooden house embosomed
among the trees, which is still pointed
out as the birth-place of Adoniram Jud-
son. His father, who also bore the quaint
scriptural name of Adoniram, was a
Congregational minister. Soon after his
marriage he settled in Malden, and here,
on the 9th of August, 1788, his eldest son,
Adoniram, was born and lived until he
was four years and a half old. The family
then removed to Wenham, where they
remained until he was twelve years old ;
after that they removed again to Brain¬
tree, remaining two years ; and at last,
when Adoniram was fourteen years old,
they took up their abode permanently in
the old historic town of Plymouth. As
a child he was very precocious, learning
to read when he was only three years of
age. His sister tells us that at the age
of four he used to collect the children
of the neighbourhood round him, and,
mounting a chair, go through the form
of a public service in a very earnest
manner. The hymn which he used al¬
ways to give out on these occasions
begins with the words, “ Go preach my
Gospel, saith the Lord.” When he went
to the Grammar-school he showed much
fondness for languages, and became spe¬
cially proficient in Greek. His school¬
fellows gave him the nickname Virgil,
or “Old Virgil dug up.” His reading
was very extensive even before he was
twelve years old. Hearing some conver¬
sation one day about a new exposition of
the Book of Revelation that had appeared,
he felt that he must have this exposition;
for he was very fond of the Book of
Revelation, and had read everything on

it contained in his father’s library. Over¬
coming the bashfulness which he felt,
Adoniram went to a gentleman in the
neighbourhood who had it, and asked for
the loan of the exposition which excited
his curiosity. He was refused. His father,
to whom he made known his disappoint¬
ment, showed much sympathy with him.
“Hot lend to you !” he exclaimed indig¬
nantly ; “I wish he understood it half as
well ! You shall have books, Adoniram,
just as many as you can read, and I’ll go
myself to Boston for them.” He went,
but did not bring the book on Revelation.
It was not deemed suitable for Adoniram.
His father stimulated his ambition to the
utmost. He seems early to have formed
the hope that his son would become a
great man, and took no pains to conceal
this expectation ; so that even in child¬
hood Adoniram’s heart came to be full
of worldly ambition, which in subse¬
quent years had to be nailed to the cross.
In 1804, he entered Providence College,
afterwards called Brown University, one
year in advance ; and in 1807, was gradu¬
ated valedictorian of his class, at the age
of nineteen. During his college course
he was a hard student, very ambitious
to excel, and extremely circumspect in
his behaviour. In the autumn of 1807,
young Judson opened a private academy
in Plymouth, which he taught for nearly
a year. During this time he published
two text-books — the Elements of English
Grammar and the Young Lady’s Arith¬
metic.

But the most important event of this
period of his life was bis conversion.
From his earliest years lie had breathed
a thoroughly Christian atmosphere, but
during his college course he began to
cherish sceptical views. At that time
French infidelity was sweeping over the
land like a flood, and young Judson did

AD ONI RAM JUDSON.

3

not escape the contamination. Imme¬
diately on closing his school at Plymouth,
and during a tour through the Northern
States, a deep impression was made upon
his mind by the sudden death of an
intimate friend and classmate in college,
who like himself had become imbued
with the scepticism of the day. This
incident occurred in a lonely country
inn, where, quite unknown to each other,
they happened to be spending the night
in adjoining rooms. The landlord had
apologised to Judson for putting him
into a room next to one occupied by a
sick young man, who was likely to die.
Judson expressed his sorrow for the
young man, but said it made no difference
to him. He was haunted, however, by
the question. If he himself were in a
similar position, was he ready to die ?
Then he began to think about the state
of the invalid. Was he a Christian,
or, like himself, a Freethinker ? Next
morning, on inquiry, he heard that he
was dead. He learned, moreover, who
he was. The announcement completely
stunned Judson. It put an end to his
pleasure trip, and seemed to have changed
him at once into an earnest searcher
after truth. He returned home. His
arrival was quite unexpected, but very
welcome. His parents rejoiced greatly
when they heard that he was now an
anxious seeker for salvation. While in
this state several ministers met him on
different occasions, and had conversations
with him in regard to his spiritual
condition. They invited him to be¬
come a student at a Theological College
with which they were connected, be¬
lieving that he might thus be helped
out of his difficulties. In this way
he was led to enter the Seminary at
Andover one year in advance. As he
was neither a professor of religion, nor
a candidate for the ministry, he was
only admitted by special favour ; but
on the 2nd of December, 1808, he made
a solemn dedication of himself to God,
and about five months afterwards became
a member of the third Congregational
church in Plymouth.

II.

CONSECRATION TO MISSIONARY LIFE.

Conversion involved in itself for Judson
a consecration of himself to the minis¬
try, and at the same time he began to
ponder the subject of foreign missions.
With the last year of his theological
course still before him, there fell into his
hands a sermon, entitled “ The Star in
the East," preached in one of the parish
churches of Bristol, England, by Dr. Clau¬
dius Buchanan, who had for many years
been a chaplain to the British East India
Company. The leading thought of the
sermon was the evidence of the Divine
power of the Christian religion in the
East. Dr. Buchanan described the pro¬
gress of the Gospel in India, and espe¬
cially the labours of the venerable German
missionary Schwartz. This sermon fell
into Judsoffis soul like a spark into tin¬
der. Six months elapsed from the time
of his reading Buchanan's “Star in the
East " before he made the final resolve to
become a missionary to the heathen. It
was in February, 1810, that he and
several other young men formally con¬
secrated themselves to this work.

In becoming a missionary, young
Judson turned his back upon the most
flattering prospects at home. He had
been appointed to and declined a tutor¬
ship in Brown University, and Dr. Griffin
had proposed him as his colleague in the
largest church in Boston. “And you
will be so near home," his mother said.
“No," was his reply, “I shall never live
in Boston ; I have farther than that to
go." The ambitious hopes of his father
were overthrown, and his mother and
sister mourned him with tears of regret.

Young Judson fully appreciated the
dangers and hardships of missionary life,
and understood and accepted the priva¬
tions and sufferings that awaited him.
There was at this time no Foreign
Missionary Society in America, to which
he could offer himself, and which would
ensure his support in the foreign field.
He therefore, together with his missionary

4

ADONIRAM J UBS OX.

associates, made known their wishes to
their teachers in the Theological Semi¬
nary, and to several influential ministers
in the vicinity. These wise and cautious
men advised the students to submit
their case to the General Association, a
body representing all the Congregational
churches in the State of Massachusetts ;
which was done accordingly, on June
27tli, 1810. In this way the American
Board of Commissioners for Foreign
Missions, a society known and justly
revered at the present day as the mother
of American foreign missionary societies,
was organized. It was thought best by
this body to send Mr. Judson to England,
to ascertain whether in their feeble begin¬
ning they might depend for aid and co¬
operation on their brethren of the London
Missionary Society. He embarked for
England, January 11th, 1811, on the Eng¬
lish ship Packet. She was captured on
the way by a French privateer, and so
he was subjected to imprisonment and
compulsory detention in France. He
arrived in London on the 6th of May,
and was courteously received by the
English directors ; but a joint conduct of
missions not seeming to them practicable,
he returned to America, and arrived in
New York on the 17th of August.

Soon after his return, Mr. Judson was
appointed to labour as a missionary in
Asia, either in the Burman empire, —
which has acquired fresh interest in
the eyes of Englishmen by the recent
acquisition which has taken place, —
Surat, Prince of Wales Island, or else¬
where, as Providence should seem to
open the most favourable door. But he
was not to go alone, for he was already
betrothed to Miss Ann IJasseltine, whose
zeal in the cause of missions, and whose
sublime heroism, have made her one of
the most remarkable women of her age.
She was born at Bradford, Massachusetts,
December 22nd, 1789, and was about a
year younger than Mr. Judson. At the
age of sixteen she received her first deep
religious impressions. After a struggle
of several months, she consecrated herself
to the Christian life, and threw herself

with all her native ardour into its
labours and joys. Her decision to be¬
come a foreign missionary was the more
remarkable, that as yet no woman had
ever left America for that purpose.
Public sentiment was against it. On
the 3rd of February, 1812, Mr. Judson
took final leave of his parents at Ply¬
mouth ; on the 5th, he was married to
Ann Hasseltine at Bradford ; on the 6th,
he received ordination at Salem ; and on
the 19th, he embarked with his young
wife on the brig Caravan, bound for
Calcutta.

III.

VOYAGE TO BURMAH.

After the shores of America had faded
from their eyes, almost four months
elapsed before Mr. and Mrs. Judson
caught sight of land. While taking
this long voyage to India, they adopted
the views of the Baptists, and upon
their arrival formally joined that deno¬
mination. This step necessarily caused
them to be separated from all their
missionary associates, and from the so¬
ciety that sent them out. But this
separation was only the beginning of
their troubles. India was ruled by
the East India Company, which was
opposed to the introduction of mission¬
aries, particularly of Americans; England
and America not being at that time
on friendly terms. It was feared the
natives would rise against the whole
English race, and a war ensue, rendered
the more intense by the spirit of religious
fanaticism. Mr. and Mrs. Judson were,
therefore, peremptorily ordered to re¬
turn to America. They begged leave to
settle in some other part of India, but
Avere refused. They then asked leave to
repair to Mauritius. Permission Avas
granted ; but no ship was ready to sail
bound for that port, and they Avere
compelled to Avait tAvo months. At the
end of that time they were ordered on
board one of the Company's vessels bound
for England, but a vessel being just
about to sail for Mauritius, they appealed
to the GoA'ernor for a passport. This

AD OMR AM JUDSON.

s

&

was refused. The captain, however,
good-naturedly agreed to take them
without a passport, and they embarked
under cover of the night. But while
sailing down the Hooghly river to the sea,
they were overtaken by a Government
despatch and forbidden to go farther.
They were put ashore on the bank of the
river, and took shelter in a little tavern.
After three or four days, some unknown
benefactor procured them the much-
desired passport to sail on the Creole,
which they were fortunate enough to
overtake anchored at Saugur, seventy
miles below. After a voyage of six
weeks, they arrived at Port Louis, in
the Isle of Prance, January 17th, 1813.

The Isle of Prance, the scene of St.
Pierre^s pathetic tales of Paul and Vir¬
ginia, was to our missionaries also, who
took refuge here, a place of sorrow.
Here they learned of a death which
rivals in pathos the fate of Virginia.
Mrs. Harriet Newell, the first American
martyr to foreign missions, one of their
missionary associates, who had sailed in
the same ship with them from America,
and who had preceded them to this place,
having barely survived the tempestuous
voyage from Calcutta, had just been laid
to rest in the heathy ground of Mauritius.
She was one who, Pfor the love of Christ
and immortal souls, left the bosom of her
friends and found an early grave in a
land of strangers.”

During the four months which Mr.
and Mrs. Judson were obliged to spend
in the Isle of Prance, their time was
spent in self-sacrificing labours among
the English soldiers that formed the
garrison of the island ; but they longed
to reach their final destination, and de¬
cided to make another attempt to land on
the coast of India. On the 7th of May,
they embarked for Madras, intending to
establish a mission on Prince of Wales
Island, lying in the Straits of Malacca.
On the 4th of June, they arrived at
Madras, where they were once more
under the jurisdiction of the East India
Company. There was no vessel in the
harbour bound for Prince of Wales Island,

and the only vessel about to sail in
that direction was bound for Rangoon,
Burmah. Their arrival was promptly
reported to the Governor-General, and
they feared they would be immediately
transported to England. They dreaded
to pass from the protection of the British
flag into the power of the Burman despot,
whose tender mercies were cruel ; but
their only alternative was between Ran¬
goon and their own dear native land,
and they chose the former. On June
22nd, they went on board the crazy old
vessel Georgiana, and after a stormy
and perilous voyage they reached Ran¬
goon. Mrs. Judson was dangerously ill,
and was obliged to be carried on shore.

Although Mr. Judson’s change of de¬
nominational connection did not meet
with universal approval at the time, yet
good and wise men of all religious bodies,
viewing his conduct from the standpoint
of the present, are agreed that it was over¬
ruled for good to the Christian world at
large. It occasioned the formation of
another missionary society. When the
tidings reached America, the Baptists
throughout the whole land were aroused
to action, and immediately organized
themselves into what is now known as
the American Baptist Missionary Union,
whose receipts for 1884 were about three
hundred thousand dollars. Thus there
came to be two great American benevolent
forces at work where before there was
only one. What a history-making epoch
that was ! The action of those conse¬
crated students at Andover led to the for¬
mation of the American Board of Com¬
missioners for Foreign Missions, and of
the American Baptist Missionary Union;
the one the organ of the Congregational-
ists, the other of the Baptists, of America.
A watershed was upheaved from which
two beneficent and ever-widening streams
flowed forth for the healing of the
nations.

IV.

LIFE RAE-GOOE".

In Rangoon Mr. Judson began his
labours as a foreign missionary, and here

6

AD ONI RAM JUDSON

the next ten years of his life were spent,
lie first addressed himself to the task of
mastering the Burmese language,without
grammar, dictionary, or English-speak¬
ing teacher. How well he succeeded
has become a matter of history. He
was enabled to render important service
later on both to the Burmans and the
English during the war of 1824, between
Burmah and the English Government
in India. He also made the acquisition
of this most difficult language compara¬
tively easy to all such as should follow
in his footsteps. On the 13th of July,
just three years to a day after his arrival
in the country, he completed a Grammar
of the Burmese language. A little later
he completed his first tract. On the 20th
of May, 1817, he finished the translation
of the Gospel of Matthew, the first stage
in the monumental task of translating
the whole Bible. But work of this kind
was always secondary to what he con¬
sidered the business of his life, namely,
to preach the Gospel to the heathen.
There were only two channels through
which religious truth could ^e communi¬
cated to the mind of the Barman — the
eyes and the ears. The natives were
emphatically a reading people, so that
one way in which Mr. Judson communi¬
cated the Gospel was by the translation
of tracts — either clear statements of
Christian truth, or portions of the Bible.
These were not scattered about like
autumn leaves, but given in a discrimi¬
nating manner to individuals, the gift
often being accompanied by a solemn in¬
junction to read, followed by a fervent
prayer ; and it is a noteworthy fact, that
the attention of the first serious Burman
inquirer was caught by two of these
little writings that fell into his hands.

But far more important than trans¬
lating and distributing truth in a printed
form was the oral preaching of the
Gospel. Eor this Mr. Judson had a rare
aptitude, and in it he won his most
signal triumphs. It was unlike the
preaching of an orator about whom a
throng gathers. After the little chapel
or Zayat was built, public worship in¬

deed was held, but most of the teach¬
ing at first was to the individual. A
single person would enter into a dis¬
cussion with the missionary, while a few
others would draw near to witness the
encounter. In these hand-to-hand frays
Mr. Judson often extorted exclamations
of admiration from the bystanders, as
with his keen logic he hewed his oppo¬
nent’s arguments to pieces. His preach¬
ing abounded with images and illustra¬
tions. He preached with great fervour
and earnestness, and with a touching
simplicity in matter and language. Be¬
hind his words lay the magnet of a great
character. There was no mistaking his
motives.

On April 4th, 1819, when Mr. Judson
was thirty-one years old, and had been in
Burmah nearly six years, the first public
service was held, and he ventured to
preach to a Burman audience in their own
language ; and on the 27th of J une, seven
years after leaving America, he baptized
the first Burman convert, Moung Nau,
who was soon followed by many more. ,

At this interesting period, when num¬
bers were inquiring into the new re¬
ligion, the black clouds of persecution
gathered over the heads of the new
converts and their Christian teachers.
The Viceroy of Rangoon regarded with
an unfavourable eye the attempt to
introduce a new religion, and Mr.
Judson resolved to go directly to Ava,
the capital of Burmah, and lay the
matter at the feet of the Emperor. If he
could gain permission from the Burman
monarch to propagate the Christian reli¬
gion, he would be at once exempt from
the persecution of provincial underlings.
If he should fail, matters could be no
worse, for news of the new movement
must soon reach the ears of the King
in any case. Mr. Judson returned from
Ava utterly disheartened, having reaped
only complete failure. He therefore de¬
cided to remove the mission to Chitta¬
gong, in order to be under the protection
of the English Government ; but the
heroism of the disciples prevailed to keep
him in Rangoon, where he continued his

AD OMR AM JUDSON, .

7

labours for three years more in tolerable
freedom. In 1822, Mr. Judson made a
second journey to Ava, and this time
found the King much more favourably
disposed toward him ; even inviting him
to come and establish himself in Ava.
The little church in Rangoon had grown
to eighteen members, the Zayat had been
built, schools established, a printing-
press sent them from America, and two
missionaries were on the ground with
their wives to care for the infant church.
There seemed no reason why he should
not move into ‘‘the regions beyond,” as
he always longed to do. So, on the 13th
of December, 1823, he set out for Ava,
where he arrived January 23rd, 1824.
This marks an epoch in Mr. Judson’s
life. His active, ardent temperament was
to be subjected to the crucible of passive
endurance, and we now pass from the
record of his activities to the story of
his sufferings.

Y

LIFE IN AVA AND OUNG-PEN-LA.

When Mr. and Mrs. Judson left Ran¬
goon to establish a mission in Ava, the
outlook was encouraging. They had
been invited by the King to live in the
capital city, and had received from him
a plot of ground on which to build a
mission-house. They felt sure of royal
protection, and many persons in high
rank seemed kindly disposed to the new
religion. Mr. Judson preached in Bur¬
mese every Sunday, and held worship
every evening, and Mrs. Judson soon
had a school of native girls. A dark
cloud of persecution, however, quickly
gathered on the horizon. War broke
out between Burmah and the English
Government in India, and suspicion fell
at once on all the white foreigners re¬
siding in Ava. It was thought that they
were in collusion with the English.

Mr. Judson was seized on the 8th of
June, 1824, and for twenty-one months
endured the prolonged horrors of con¬
finement in a loathsome Oriental prison.
For nine months he was confined in
three pairs of fetters, for two months

in five, for six months in one; for two
months he was a prisoner at large ; and
for two months, although released from
prison, he was restrained in Ava under the
charge of the governor of the north gate
of the palace. The prison was a building
about forty feet long and thirty wide,
and about five feet high. There was no
ventilation except through the chinks
in the boards, and upon the thin roof
poured down the rays of a tropical sun.
In this room were confined one hundred
persons of both sexes and all nationalities,
nearly all naked and half famished.
The prison was never washed or even
swept. Putrid remains of animal and
vegetable matter, together with other
nameless abominations, strewed the floor.
In this place of torment Mr. Judson lay,
with five pairs of fetters on his legs
and ankles, weighing about fourteen
pounds, the marks of which he carried
to his dying day. At nightfall, lest the
prisoners should escape, a bamboo pole
was placed between their legs, and then
drawn up by means of pulleys to a height
which allowed their shoulders to rest on
the ground, while their feet depended
from the iron rings of the fetters.

When Mr. Judson was subjected to
these indignities and tortures he was in
the prime of life, thirty-six years old ;
but he was a student, unused to suffering
hardship. His naturally vigorous con¬
stitution had been enfeebled by ten years
of close application to study in a tropical
climate, and of late years completely
shattered by repeated attacks of Indian
fever. This, however, only represents
the physical side of his distresses. Who
can measure the torture of twenty-one
months of enforced idleness to an active
methodical nature ; or the horrors of
close association with the basest crimi¬
nals of the Burman capital — obliged to
endure their filth, to look upon their
repulsive features, his reluctant ears filled
with their vulgar and blasphemous jests,
compelled to look on while they were
tortured with cord and mallet, and forced
to listen to the writhing victims’ shrieks
of anguish ?

8

ADONIRAM JUDSON.

He was a man of the strongest and
tenderest affections. What keen mental
anguish must he have endured as he
thought of his beloved wife threading
alone the hot and crowded streets,
without friend or protector, liable at any
moment to be seized and thrown into
prison ; hourly exposed to the insults of
rude Burman officials, while, with in¬
trepid courage, day after day she brought
food to the prison ; assuaged the wretch¬
edness of the prisoners by bribing their
inhuman keepers; pleaded for the re¬
lease of her husband with one Burman
official after another, and with such
pathetic eloquence, that on one occasion
she melted to tears the old governor of
the prison ; giving birth to her babe, and
after a confinement of only twenty-one
days, carrying it all the way in her arms
to that 4 ‘never-to-be-forgotten place,”
Oung-pen-la ; nursing it and the little
native girls under her charge through
small-pox; and at last, broken down
herself, and brought to death’s door by
the same loathsome disease, followed by
the dread spotted fever, obtaining per¬
mission after many entreaties for her
husband to crawl about the town in his
iron fetters, in charge of a gaoler, with
the little wailing creature in his arms,
begging nourishment for it from some
Burman mother !

It is not to be wondered at that Mr.
Judson in the midst of these horrors
took refuge in the quietism of Madame
Guyon. His sublime faith in God never
faltered, though the Burman Bible re¬
mained unfinished, and the work of ten
years in Rangoon was going to pieces in
his absence. He employed his calmer
moments in composing some exquisite
poems and hymns, and a metrical render¬
ing of the Lord’s Prayer. At last he was
released from his irons, and compelled to
act as translator and interpreter for the
Burmans in treating for peace with the
English. From the beginning of his
residence in the country, he had care¬
fully avoided taking any part in political
affairs, for he did not wish to endanger
his influence as a religious teacher by

letting the Burmans receive the impres¬
sion that he was in the interests of the
English. But now he had no choice.
He was probably selected because no
one could be better trusted, and because
of his remarkable knowledge of the lan¬
guage. He was taken from Oung-pen-la,
where the prisoners had been removed six
months previously, and sent to Maloun,
where he remained six weeks on the
Government business, when, in conse¬
quence of the advance of the English
from Prome, he was hurried back to Ava,
and again thrown into prison. He was
soon released, however, at the demand of
General Sir Archibald Campbell, who
took Mr. and Mrs. Judson and their
infant daughter immediately to his own
quarters, and treated them with the kind¬
ness of a father rather than as strangers
of another country.

VI.

LIFE IN AMHERST.

The treaty of peace Avas signed by the
British and Burman commissioners on
the 24th of February, 1826. On the
6th of the following month, Mr. and
Mrs. Judson left the headquarters of the
English army encamped at Yan-ta-bo.
They sailed down the Irrawaddy in a
British gunboat, and arrived at Ran¬
goon, March 21st, 1826. Having at last
emerged from his long term of Oriental
imprisonment, Mr. Judson turned to
his life-work with undiminished ardour.
The English desired to retain his valu¬
able services as interpreter, and offered
him a salary of three thousand dollars ;
but he declined.

When he arrived in Rangoon, he found
his little mission, the result of ten years
of labour, completely broken up. The
Avar had driven the missionary associates
Avhom he had left in charge to Calcutta,
Avhither they had narrowly escaped Avith
their lives. He had left a native church
of eighteen disciples, and he found on
his return only four. With the excep¬
tion of two, however, none had disgraced
their holy profession. It was out of

9

ADONIRAM JUDSON.

the question to think of remaining at
Rangoon. The English were only hold¬
ing the place temporarily, until the Bur-
mans should pay their war debt ; and
at the close of the year the army vacated
it, and Burmah resumed the possession of
its chief sea-port. A state of anarchy
followed the war, famine succeeded, and
tigers and other beasts of prey began to
infest the suburbs and carry off cattle and
human beings. All these circumstances
impelled the missionaries to leave Ran¬
goon. It was no longer necessary to
remain there in order to reach the native
Burmans.

One of the results of the war was
that the English had wrested from them
a large part of their sea-coast. This
country was peopled with Burmans, and
the cruelty of the despot at Ava was sure
to cause a large overflow of the popu¬
lation of Burmah proper into it. Here
the J udsons might teach the new religion
unmolested, under the protection of the
British flag. Just at this time Mr. Jud-
son was invited by Mr. Crawford, the
British Civil Commissioner of the new
province, to accompany him on an ex¬
ploring expedition, the purpose being to
ascertain the best situation for a town
which should be the capital of the new
territory, the seat of government, and
the headquarters of the army. Mr. Jud-
soiTs knowledge of the language made
him an invaluable assistant in such an
enterprise, and finally he and Mr. Craw¬
ford selected as the site of the new city
the promontory where the waters of the
Salwen empty themselves into the sea.
The town was named Amherst, in honour
of the Governor-General of India, and to
this spot Mr. Judson decided to trans¬
plant the Rangoon mission, with the four
faithful disciples as the nucleus of a
native church.

They removed to Amherst July 2nd,
1826. But before missionary operations
were fairly begun, Mr. Judson was com¬
pelled reluctantly to visit Ava, the scene
of his imprisonment. The Governor de¬
sired to negotiate a commercial treaty
with the Burman King, and Mr. J udson

was appointed a member of the embassy.
His profound knowledge of the Burman
language and character well qualified
him for the delicate and difficult task
of treating with the Court at Ava. At
first he firmly declined ; but when hn
was assured that if he would go as an
English ambassador every effort would
be. made to ensure the insertion of a
clause in the treaty granting religious-
liberty to the Burmans, so that the whole
country should be thrown open to the
Gospel, he reluctantly consented.

The stubborn intolerance of the native
Government had hitherto been the chief
obstacle to his missionary work, and re¬
ligious freedom for the Burmans was a-
blessing for which he had long laboured
and striven in vain. The step proved
to be a most unfortunate one, for he soon
learned that the King would on no terms
agree to the clause in the treaty granting
his subjects freedom of worship. He*
was obliged to remain about two months-
and a half in Ava, and this period em¬
braces one of the saddest episodes in his
life. On the 4th of November, a sealed
letter was placed in his hands containing
the intelligence of the death of Mrs.
Judson. While conducting the affairs
of the mission in her husband’s absence,
she was smitten with fever, and died on
October 24th, 1826, at the age of thirty-
seven, apart from him to whom she had
given her heart in her girlhood, whose*
footsteps she had faithfully followed for
fourteen years, over land and sea, through
trackless jungles and strange crowded
cities. She had shared his studies and
his privations, illumining his hours of
gloom with her bright presence ; and with
a heroism and fidelity never exceeded
in the history of missions, had saved his;
life and soothed his sufferings during liis;
long imprisonment. He whom she thus;
loved, and whose knowledge of Indian
fever might have availed to avert the-
fatal stroke, was far away in Ava. No»
missionary was with her when she died,
to speak words of Christian consolation,
and the hands of strangers smoothed lieu
dying pillow.

ao

ADONIRAM JUDSON.

Mr. Judson returned to Amherst Janu¬
ary 24th, 1827. The native Christians
greeted him with the voice of lamenta¬
tion, and his hearth was desolate. But
though worn out with sufferings and
sorrows, he did not remit for one moment
his missionary labours. He met the
Burmans for public worship on Sundays,
and each day at prayers new inquirers
•stole in and were taught the religion of
Christ. He was also busily employed in
revising his translation of the New Testa¬
ment, and completed two Catechisms for
the use of the Burman schools, the one
astronomical, the other geographical ;
while his sorrowful heart sought com¬
fort in commencing a translation of the
Psalms. His motherless child was the
solace of his studies ; but she too was
taken from him on April 24th, 1827, at
the age of two years. Thus, at the age
of thirty-nine, he found himself alone in
the world, bereft of wife and child.

The time had now come when the
little mission at Amherst thus established
with such mournful omens was to be
broken up. Amherst was rapidly being
oclipsed by the town of Maulmain, situ¬
ated on the coast about twenty-five
miles farther north, at the very mouth
of the Salwen. Within a year of its
first settlement, while the population of
Amherst amounted to twelve hundred,
the population of Maulmain had rapidly
•swelled to twenty thousand. The reason
for this growth was an unfortunate mis¬
understanding between the Civil Com¬
missioner, Mr. Crawford, and the Com-
mander-in-Chief, SirArchibald Campbell.
The latter made Maulmain the head¬
quarters of his army, which naturally
attracted emigration thither, and it soon
became apparent that this town instead
of Amherst was to be the metropolis
of the ceded provinces of Tenasserim.
Accordingly, it seemed best to transfer
the mission to Maulmain, the site for a
mission-house and Zayat having been
•presented by Sir Archibald Campbell.
Must before leaving Amherst, with its
treasure of precious dust gathered under
the hope-tree, and within three months

of the burial of his child, Mr. Judson
learned of the death of his venerable
father.

VII.

LIFE IN MAULMAIN.

There are traces that at this time Mr.
Judson was inclined to embrace the mys¬
tical tenets of Thomas a Kempis, F enelon,
and Madame Guyon ; and that under the
stress of grief and physical enfeeblement,
he approached the perilous verge of
fanaticism. He, however, soon recovered
his mental and spiritual equilibrium,
and in the busy whirl of missionary
activity, threw off whatever excesses of
self-denial may temporarily have charac¬
terized his views and practices. Having
brought with him from Amherst the
whole little flock of native converts
and inquirers, together with nineteen
scholars, we find Mr. Judson taking up
his abode in the new mission-house in
Maulmain. Work was at once begun in
four widely separated centres of Gospel
influence, where public worship was held,
followed by close personal conversation
with any who desired to become ac¬
quainted with the new religion. He
soon bad the happiness of baptizing his
first convert ; and many others speedily
followed, yielding little by little to his
solemn and gentle persuasion. School
work progressed, and was not less effect¬
ive. But amid the cares and toils of
beginning a missionary enterprise in
Maulmain, Mr. Judson did not remit his
literary labours. The odd moments of
time left from preaching and school work
were occupied in translating ; and it
was at this time that he began the task
of translating the Old Testament into
Burmese.

While thus engaged, he was not un¬
mindful of the smouldering camp-fire
at Rangoon and Amherst. At Rangoon
especially, where he had first unfurled
the banner of Christ, and whence he had
been so rudely driven by the intolerant
spirit of the King of Ava, he reorganized
a native church under a Burman pastor,
who was one of the original converts.

AD ON III AM JUDSON.

11

This has since grown so., that in 1881 the
Rangoon mission embraced 89 churches
and 3,700 members. At Amherst, also,
Mr. Judson established a native church
under a native pastor.

In 1830, he made another attempt to
-establish the Christian religion in Burmah
proper. Leaving Maulmain in charge
of other missionaries, he went to Prome,
where thousands heard the Gospel from
his lips. But the King gave orders that
he should be required to depart, and he
was forced, sadly and reluctantly, to
abandon the project of entering Central
Burmah. He did not at once withdraw,
but remained for almost a year at Ran¬
goon, situated just within the gate of the
empire. He retreated only step by step
before intolerance, disputing every inch
of the ground, and using the printed
page as an engine for disseminating the
truth, when preaching by the living
voice was impossible. About this time,
the Mission Board in America sent Mr.
Judson an urgent and affectionate invi¬
tation to revisit his native land. He
was forty-two years old, and had been
absent from America eighteen years ; his
health was shattered, his family he had
laid in the grave ; but he replied that he
did not feel justified in accepting their
kind invitation, and remained at his post.
He who dealt so sternly with himself,
however, cared with almost a woman’s
tenderness for the health and comfort of
his missionary associates.

After an absence of thirteen months
in Rangoon and Prome, Mr. Judson re¬
turned to Maulmain, to find the church en¬
larged by the addition of many Burmans,
Karens, and Talings. Two millions of
pages of tracts and translations of Scrip¬
ture had been printed, and a church of
fourteen members established in the
neighbouring jungle. Soon after his
return, he entered upon a new field of
operations, by making tours among the
wild Karen tribes inhabiting the jungle
behind Maulmain ; a people whom he
found peculiarly accessible to the Chris¬
tian religion. These tours were attended
by great fatigue and danger. He took

with him a band of missionary associates
and native workers, whom he dispatched
two and two, to the right and left, up the
tributaries of the Salwen, to penetrate
the jungle, and meeting their teacher a
few days later, report to him the result
of their labours.

After eight years of domestic solitude,
Mr. Judson was married, on the 10th of
April, 1834, to Mrs. Sarah Hall Board-
man, widow of the sainted George Dana
Boardman, one of his missionary associ¬
ates. He found in her a kindred spirit.
She had spent the three years of her wid¬
owhood in heroic toil among the Karens at
Tavoy, continuing her husband’s labours
after his death. She was the guiding
spirit of the mission. She pointed out
the way of life to the Karen inquirers
who came in from the wilderness ; she
even made long tours in the jungle.
With her child carried by her followers
at her side, she climbed the mountain,
traversed the marsh, forded the stream,
and threaded the forest. She conducted
her schools with such ability, that when
an appropriation was made by the English
Government for schools throughout the
Provinces, it was especially stipulated
that they should be conducted on the
plan of Mrs. Boardman ’s schools at Tavoy.

On the 31st of January, 1834, Mr. Jud¬
son completed the Burman Bible. Seven
years more were spent in revising the
first work, and on the 24th of October,
1840, the last sheets of the revised edi¬
tion were sent to the press. Competent
judges pronounce Mr. Judson’s transla¬
tions of the Scripture the most perfect
work of its kind that has ever appeared
in India. Twenty-one years were spent
in translation, and seven in revision. It
is perfect as a literary work ; and will
probably three centuries hence be the
Bible of the Christian churches of Bur¬
mah, as Luther’s Bible is now in the
hands of Protestant Germany.

Upon the completion of the fiftieth
year of his life and his twenty-fifth in
Burmah, his health gave way. Disease
fastened upon his lungs, entailing loss
of voice and intense pain, and he was

12

AD ONI RAM JUDSON

compelled to take a sea-voyage to Cal¬
cutta. After an absence of two months,
he returned somewhat improved ; but
Mrs. Judson’s health also began to fail,
and she was attacked by the disease
which proved fatal to her in the end.
Their children also being sick, it became
necessary to take another voyage to
Calcutta. One of the children died
there, and then they proceeded to the
Isle of France, and returned to Maulmain
benefited.

VIII.

VISIT TO AMERICA.

While working at his gigantic task
of compiling a Burman Dictionary, un¬
dertaken at the request of the Board
of Missions in America, Mr. Judson
was obliged to embark on a voyage
to America, in order to preserve Mrs.
Judsom’s life. She had taken several
short journeys along the coast, without
deriving any permanent benefit, and her
case had now become so desperate, that
she was unable to attempt the long
journey to America alone. Her life was
of immense value, not only to her hus¬
band and her little family of six help¬
less children, but also to the mission ;
as, next to Mr. Judson himself, she spoke
and wrote the Burman language more
perfectly than any white foreigner then
living ; while her marked ability and
earnest missionary spirit would render
her loss one impossible to repair. On
the 26th of April, 1845, Mr. and Mrs.
Judson, with their three elder children,
embarked on the ship Paragon for Lon¬
don, leaving their three younger children
behind, in the charge of the missionaries.
The vessel sprang a leak, and the captain
was obliged to put in at the Isle of
France.

Mrs. Judson had so far improved that
the missionaries formed the purpose of
separating, she to continue the voyage
alone, and he to return to his work in
Maulmain. But she soon experienced a
severe relapse, and it became impossible
to leave her. After remaining three
weeks at Port Louis, they embarked on a

ship bound directly for the United States.
Again she rallied, and again experienced
a dreadful relapse, which terminated in
her death on ship-board off the port of St.
Helena, on the 1st of September, 1845.
Having prepared her for burial with
his own hands, her body was carried
ashore the same afternoon and deposited
in the public burial-ground at St. Helena,
and at evening, this lone rock of the
ocean, which contained all that was mor¬
tal of the mother of his children, faded
out of his sight for ever.

Mr. Judson, with his three children,
reached Boston on the 15th of October,
1845. He was ill prepared for the
enthusiastic greeting that awaited him
in America. Every home was thrown
open to him, and soon his progress from
city to city almost assumed the propor¬
tions of a triumphal march. His move¬
ments were chronicled alike by secular
and religious newspapers. He was in
exceedingly delicate health, his pulmo¬
nary complaint prevented his speaking
above a whisper, and he could only ad¬
dress an audience at second hand, whis¬
pering his words to a speaker at his side,
who conveyed them to the ears of the
hearers. He had so long used a foreign
tongue, that it was difficult for him to
form sentences in English. Naturally
shy and humble, he shrank from obser¬
vation, and found it exceedingly dis¬
tasteful to be publicly harangued and
eulogised. He often disappointed public
assemblies by declining to relate his own
adventures, and telling instead the simple
story of the Cross.

While on this tour through the country r
everywhere kindling missionary enthu¬
siasm, he met in Philadelphia Miss Emily
Chubbuck, who, under the nom de plume
of Fanny Forrester, had achieved a wide
literary reputation. He secured her to-
prepare a suitable memoir of Mrs. Sarah
B. Judson, and the acquaintance thus
formed terminated in marriage on the
2nd of the following June. This lady,
who took the place at his side left
successively vacant by Ann Hasseltine
and Sarah Boardman, had, besides her

ADONIRAM JUDSON.

13

intellectual gifts, an intensely religious
nature. She was the child of Christian
parents, and was very early the subject
of religious impressions. In subsequent
life she dated her conversion as occurring
when she was eight years old, and she
seems to have been haunted from her
earliest years by the conviction that she
was some time or other to become a
missionary to the heathen. The mar¬
riage was pleasing neither to the literary
nor to the religious world. The one
thought that the brilliant Fanny Forrester
was throwing herself away in marrying
“an old missionary,” the other feared
that the moral grandeur of the missionary
cause was compromised by an alliance be¬
tween its venerable founder and a writer
of fiction. But the missionary’s heart
kept turning towards the field of his
labours far across the sea. On the 11th
of July, 1846, after bidding farewell to
his three elder children, who were to
remain in America, Mr. Judson embark¬
ed, with his wife and several newly-
appointed missionaries, for Maulmain on
the Faneuil Hall ; and though he well
knew that the dear ones from whom he
was parting would probably never be
seen again on earth, yet it was with deep
joy that he turned his face once more to¬
wards Burmah.

IX.

LAST YEARS.

More than four months elapsed after
Mr. Judson parted from his friends in
Boston before he arrived in Maulmain,
to clasp once more in his arms two of
the three children whom he had left be¬
hind eighteen months before, one having
died during his absence. He still ar¬
dently cherished the purpose of entering
Burmah proper, and his eye was upon
his old field, Bangoon, just within the
empire. The new King was a bigoted
Buddhist, and bitterly opposed to the
propagation of the Christian religion.
But in Maulmain, there were labourers
enough ; while in Rangoon he would be
favourably situated for completing the
Dictionary, as he would have access to

learned men, and to books not to be found
in Maulmain. Moreover, he hoped that
Burman intolerance might at last yield,
and he was eager to press into the interior
of the empire and establish a mission in
Ava, the scene of his sufferings.

Impelled by these motives, Mr. and
Mrs. Judson, with their two little boys,
set out for Rangoon on the 15th of
February, 1847. Missionary operations,
however, were obstructed from the out¬
set by the intolerance of the Government.
They were no longer, as in Maulmain,
under the protection of the British flag,
but were exposed to the barbarities of a
bigoted and unlimited despotism, and
the prospects of the mission were never
darker. The Acting Governor of Ran¬
goon is described by Mr. Judson as
being the most ferocious and bloodthirsty
monster he had ever known in Burmah,
and his house and courtyard resounded
day and night with the cries of people
under torture. Missionary operations
had to be conducted with the utmost
secrecy. Any known attempt at pro¬
selyting would have been instantly
punished by the imprisonment or death
of the proselyte, and the banishment of
the missionary.

Mr. Judson kept at work on the
Dictionary, while he gathered for secret
worship the few scattered members of
the native church, and any inquirers who,
at the risk of their lives, visited him
by night. The condition of his house¬
hold was made still more distressing by
sickness, every member of the family
being prostrated by disease ; and their
malady was aggravated by the want of
nourishing food. But amid all these
sufferings, Mr. Judson never fell into
despondency ; he had long since mastered
the science of contentment. He had
been instructed both “to bo full and to
be hungry, to abound and to suffer need.”
At last, the intolerance became so fierce,
that there was no hope of retaining even
a foothold without going to Ava to secure
the favour of the royal Court. Mr.
Judson’s heart was set upon doing this.
He believed it was the only way by

14

ADO NI RAM JUD80N.

which the Gospel could be established in
Burmali proper; and bitter indeed was
his disappointment when the policy of
retrenchment at home not only ]3revented
him from pushing on to Ava, but com¬
pelled him to retreat from Rangoon.

It was with an almost broken heart
that this wise and intrepid leader, after
this last fruitless effort to break the
serried ranks of Burman intolerance, re¬
turned to Maulmain, in obedience to the
timid and narrow policy of his brethren
in America. Two years afterwards, only
a few months before his death, he re¬
ceived permission from the Board to go
to Ava. But it was too late. The oppor¬
tunity for penetrating Burmah proper
had passed away.

From the time of his return to Maul-
main he worked steadily at the Dictionary,
and at the same time took a general
oversight of mission work, being in the
nature of the case a guiding and inspir¬
ing force. He preached, and part of the
time the whole care of the native church
devolved upon him. His reputation had
extended through the whole of India, and
he was held in the highest esteem even
by eminent Buddhists. To his fellow-
missionaries, his wide experience and
affectionate disposition made him an in¬
valuable adviser and friend.

But dark shadows began to gather
around the path of the missionaries.
Mrs. Judson's health began to decline,
and, while he cherished dark forebodings
about her, he little imagined he would
precede her by several years through
the valley of the shadow of death. In
November, 1849, he was attacked by the
disease which, after a period of a little
over four months, terminated in his death.
A trip down the coast of Mergui afforded
only partial relief. He tried the sea air
of Amherst, but only sank more rapidly,
and hastened back to Maulmain. His
only hope lay in a sea voyage. The
ocean breezes had never failed to in¬
vigorate him. A French barque, the
Aristide Marie, was to sail on the 3rd
of April. The dying missionary was
carried on board by his weeping disci¬

ples, accompanied only by Mr. Ranney,
of the Maulmain Mission. There were
unfortunate delays in going down the
river, so that several days were lost.
Meanwhile that precious life was ebbing
rapidly away. It was not until Monday,
the 8th, that the vessel got out to sea.
Then came head-winds and sultry
weather, and after four days and nights
of intense agony, Mr. Judson breathed
his last, on the 12th of April; and on the
same day, at eight o'clock in the evening,
the crew assembled, the larboard port
was opened, and in perfect silence, broken
only by the voice of the captain, his
body was lowered into the Indian Ocean.,
without a prayer.

X.

POSTHUMOUS INFLUENCE.

Mr. Judson did not live to complete
the Burman Dictionary. He finished the
English and Burmese part, but the Bur¬
mese and English part was left in an
unfinished state. In accordance with his
desire, expressed only a few days before
his death, Mrs. Judson transmitted his
manuscripts to his friend and missionary
associate, Mr. Stevens, upon whom the
task of completing the work devolved.

It now remains for us to ask what were
the results this great life left behind it in
the state of human society. Mr. Judson's
achievements far exceeded the wildest
aspirations of his boyhood. During the
early years in Rangoon, when the mighty
purpose of evangelizing Burmah began
to take shape in his mind ; even before
the first convert, Moung Nau, was bap¬
tized; when indeed the young missionary
was almost forgotton by his fellow Chris¬
tians at home, or merely pitied as a good-
hearted enthusiast — the outmost limit
reached by his strong-winged hope, was
that he might before he died build up a
church of a hundred converted Burmans,
and translate the whole Bible into their
language. But far more than this was
accomplished during the ten years in
Rangoon, the two years in Ava, and the
twenty-three years in Maulmain.

At the time of his death, the native

ADONIRAM JUDSON.

15

Christians (Burmans and Karens pub¬
licly baptized upon profession of tlieir
faith) numbered over seven thousand.
Besides this, hundreds throughout Bur-
mah had died rejoicing in the Christian
faith. He had not only finished the
translation of the Bible, but had accom¬
plished the larger and more difficult part
of the compilation of a Burmese Diction¬
ary. There were sixty-three churches
established among the Burmans and
Karens. These churches were under the
oversight of one hundred and sixty-three
missionaries, native pastors and assist¬
ants. He had laid the foundations of
Christianity deep down in the Burman
heart, where they could never be de¬
stroyed.

It was Mr. Judsom’s lot to labour in
the hard and obscure period of first be¬
ginnings of missionary enterprise, which
has since his day, in many places,
yielded large results. And not only so,
but he undertook the task of planting
Christianity, not among a people like
the Sandwich Islanders, without a litera¬
ture, and without an elaborate religious
system*, but rather in a soil already pre¬
occupied by an ancient literature and by
a time-honoured religion, which numbers
among its devotees one-third of the popu¬
lation of the globe. When these con¬
siderations are taken into account, the
tangible results that Mr. Judson left
behind at his death are simply amazing.

But these are only a small part of what
he really accomplished. Being dead, he
yet speaketh . The early actions of Mr.
Judson and his fellow-students at An¬
dover resulted in the formation of the
American Board of Commissioners for
Foreign Missions. This society, repre¬
senting the Congregationalists of Ameri¬
ca, may justly claim to be the mother of
American foreign missionary bodies. It
was organized for the support of certain
young men while they were engaged in
the work to which the Lord had called
them. In the year 1880, this society re¬
ceived and expended over six hundred
thousand dollars. It is conducting suc¬
cessful missionary operations in Africa,

Turkey, India, China, Japan, Micronesia,
Mexico, Spain and Austria. In these
different countries it has two hundred
and seventy-two churches, over seventeen
thousand church members, and sixteen
hundred and eighty-five missionaries,
native pastors and assistants.

The change in Mr. Judsoids views on
the subject of baptism, to which we have
already referred, led immediately to the
formation of what is now known as
the American Baptist Missionary Union.
This society is at work in Burmah, Siam,
India, China, Japan, and also in the
countries of Europe ; and it reports nine
hundred and eighty native churches,
eighty-five thousand, three hundred and
eight church members, and twelve hun¬
dred and fourteen missionaries and native
preachers.

A few years after Mr. JudsoiBs de¬
parture from America, and the organi¬
zation of these two societies, the Epis¬
copalians and Methodists of America
organized themselves for the work of
foreign missions. In 1836, the Presby¬
terians also organized a society of their
own. All these vigorous Christian
bodies sustained by the missionary con¬
viction of the churches in America, with
their vast army of missionaries and
native communicants now pressing*
against the systems of heathenism at a
thousand points, when they come to tell
the story of their origin, do not fail to'
make mention of the name of Adoniram
Judson. His life formed a part of the
fountain-head from which flow these
beneficent streams, which fringe with
verdure the wastes of paganism. There
are few of those who have gone from
America as missionaries, who are not
indebted to Mr. J udson for methods and
inspirations ; and not alone in America
has his career of heroic action and
suffering stimulated Christian activity,
but his influence has been an inspiration
everywhere. The memory of his suffer¬
ings at Ava will never cease to stimulate-
missionary endeavour. They appeared
at the time unnecessary and fruitless.
He himself, upon emerging from them.

16

ADONIRAM JUDSON.

spoke of them as having been “ unavail¬
ing to answer any valuable missionary
purpose, unless so far as they may have
been silently blessed to our spiritual
improvement and capacity for future
usefulness.” But the spectacle of our
missionary lying in an Oriental prison,
his ankles fettered with five pairs of
irons, his heroic wife ministering to him
like an angel during the, long months
of agony, has impressed itself on the
heart of Christendom, and has made
retreat from the missionary enterprise
impossible. It is God's law that pro¬
gress should be along the line of suffer¬
ing. The world's benefactors “have
been from time immemorial crucified and
burned.” The sufferings of Mr. Judson's
life have been as fruitful of blessing as

his toils. Christianity will never retreat
from the graves of its dead on heathen
shores. England is pressing into Africa
with redoubled energy since she saw
placed on the pavement of her own
Westminster Abbey the marble tablet
of him who was “brought by faithful
hands over land and sea, David Living¬
stone, missionary, traveller, philanthro¬
pist.” Until that day shall come when
every knee shall bow, and every tongue
confess the name of Jesus, Christian
hearts will not cease to draw inspiration
from the memory of those who found
their last resting-places under the hope-
tree at Amherst, on the rocky shore of
St. Helena, and beneath the waves of the
Indian Ocean.

Edward Judson, D.D.

fgliis is to

¥

PRESS OF E. SCOTT, 463 HUDSON STREET, NEW YORK.